God's Gracious Dealing

Grace Reformation Bible Church

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April 10, 2022

Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Genesis 33:1-17

00:01: Well this morning we begin chapter 33. We're not going to complete Chapter 33 will take what remains into next week as we work through chapter 34
00:13: The long night of chapter 32 has now broken into dawn Last week we saw
00:20: Esau closing in with his 400 man militia Intent it seemed to destroy
00:26: Jacob and his family as far as Jacob knew This encounter that was screaming toward him might be his last costing him his wife's
00:34: His children his flocks his servants even himself but as we saw things have come full circle
00:41: Jacob was on the banks of the Jabbok and As he had been running from Esau 20 years before alone vulnerable in the fearful night at Bethel We left him last week
00:54: Alone and vulnerable in the fearful night at Mahanaim And once again, he was left utterly alone.
01:03: And yet as we saw Jacob has never been alone Through this mysterious encounter of the man in verse 24.
01:12: We find a demonstration of God's faithfulness to Jacob He had promised at Bethel 20 years
01:19: Before that he would be with Jacob and indeed Jacob though He felt alone on the brooks of that night with Esau raging toward him in his own imagination
01:31: He was not alone We saw Jacob in his fight of faith the angel of Hosea 12 for Wrestling grappling with Jacob through the night until daybreak and when that fight of faith was over Jacob understood that his very life had been delivered verse 30 and Jacob strived for the real blessing the true gain in the hours that rolled by our
02:00: Condescending Savior was wearing Jacob down Untwisting the twister stripping away his self -reliance and his self -sufficiency and the result of this night
02:11: Leading into chapter 33 is that Jacob had learned how to prevail with God in utter dependence upon God Not as some unflinching
02:21: Titan, but rather as a limping crippled Dependent Jacob knew from this moment forward that he was being pursued by the grace of God It was as we left last week the hound of heaven
02:35: Breathing down in that steady pace upon Jacob. I Have seen
02:41: God he said in verse 30 of the last chapter face to face and my life is preserved
02:47: He recognized that God had spared him and now he's boldly prepared to approach
02:52: Esau Knowing that the Lord has delivered him and therefore will preserve him
02:58: And so we left last week with the very end of the last chapter just as he crossed over The place meaning the face of God the
03:07: Sun rose on him and he limped on his hips So we're through that long arduous night the fight of Jacob's faith
03:14: His soul has been delivered and now the Sun is is shining its radiant beams upon him as he limps past the brook toward his brother
03:23: Esau Well, we have four parts in the 17 verses of our time this morning.
03:29: No fancy alliteration here first We'll look at the family reunion second the gift exchange third the patient pace
03:38: That keeps Jacob delayed and then lastly suck off sucker at suck off First we see this family reunion and it's coming right off the heels of the morning
03:49: Jacob lifted his eyes verse 1 and looked and there Esau was coming So he literally goes from receiving the blessing of the
03:57: Lord Naming the place Penuel to looking and Esau and these 400 men have finally arrived and so he divided the children among Leia Rachel and the two maidservants and he put the maidservants and their children in front
04:09: Leia and her children behind in Rachel and Joseph last we're reminded that at this point
04:15: Rachel's only child is Joseph something that will be changing shortly Picture the scene
04:21: Jacob lifts his eyes just coming out of this encounter through the night
04:26: Completely exhausted and spent probably could barely lift his eyelids and he looks over and here's
04:32: Esau and this spread of 400 men and yet what does he do? I don't think this is fearful tactical Jacob saying oh no
04:40: You know you you go ahead of me This is actually an arrangement and as we'll see a very formal procession a formal display to his brother
04:49: So he arranges his family first Bilhah and Zilpah and their children then Leia and her children and then
04:56: Rachel with their son Joseph, but he goes forward he passes in front
05:02: Now we have to remember what Esau would have been receiving From the end of the previous day through the night perhaps if there was a stumbling servant
05:11: He would have been receiving wave after wave of this very elaborate gifts Cattle and servants cattle and servants flocks of all kinds always with this message
05:21: These are gifts from my Lord my master Jacob and he is coming to meet you
05:28: Well when Jacob finally approaches Esau you can picture Esau's mind these elaborate gifts this incredible abundance and Jacob's behind this and Jacob's behind this and Jacob's behind this you think with more and more
05:42: Costly and elaborate gifts that when he finally sees Jacob It's gonna be a whole train of servants with much more cattle and he's gonna be lifted on this bronze bed with you know
05:53: Ostrich feather fans and Jacob's eating grapes brother nice to finally see you But how does
05:58: Esau actually experience Jacob limping? exhausted Barely able to pick himself up Here's Esau after all these elaborate gifts limping
06:11: Exhausted torn torn clothing limping toward his brother. No wonder
06:16: Esau takes pity upon Jacob He crossed over before them. We read in verse 3 bowed himself to the ground seven times
06:25: Until he came near to his brother So Esau's watching this spectacle unfold.
06:30: He sees some people behind Jacob but here's the limping Jacob making his way toward Esau and stopping at Designated times to bow himself to the ground.
06:40: So we see again this humbling of the Lord that is now Demonstrated physically by Jacob.
06:46: He has been humbled by the Lord humbled in the situation with his brother Esau And he wants to demonstrate that humility to Esau not by bowing merely as a courtesy or something polite to do
06:57: But bowing sevenfold bowing seven times on his way to actually stand before his brother
07:03: It may have been the first time in his whole life that he willingly bowed to Esau And so we see the effect of God's grace in his life over these past 20 years
07:17: He doesn't just bow once a sevenfold bow was something fitting for royalty
07:26: If you approached a Pharaoh if you approached a king You would take these kinds of pains to demonstrate your your humility and your gratefulness for being received in court a vassal
07:38: Meaning a subject to a suzerain a great or mighty ruler would come in with this kind of ceremony as a sort of Servant or a dependent upon that great rulers patronage
07:52: He would come in with an elaborate display of gifts and and bowing seven times this number of completion
07:59: These constant addresses of let it please your servant if I found favor in my Lord's sight
08:04: All of this is part of this elaborate ceremony Esau's being treated like a king more importantly
08:10: Jacob is treating himself as a subject a servant to Esau and we can't help but see here an ironic reversal of all that God had prophesied about Jacob back in chapter 27 verse 29
08:24: Let people serve you nations bow down to you be master over your brethren be a lord over your brother
08:31: Let your mother's sons bow down to you and Yet here we find the recipient of that promise bowing down to his brother naming himself
08:41: Identifying himself as a servant to his brother So God had promised the nations would bow down to him that will be true that covenant will be fulfilled
08:50: And yet the way to that glory the way to that cross is through humility
08:56: Through a humbling a sevenfold obeisance to his brother Esau And so again we see the effect here
09:04: God desired to break Jacob in order to bless him and this leads to the Covenantal heir lying prostrate before his wronged brother.
09:12: This is the fruit of God's discipline God's blessing God's trial in the life of Jacob and he needed this divine
09:20: Humbling so that he could receive the fulfillment of those promises so that the
09:25: Lord in due time would exalt him He needed to be brought low in this very way
09:32: After the seven bowings He finally stands before his brother and then comes
09:38: The fateful moment of verse 4 what we've been chasing now for several months
09:46: Esau we read ran to meet him embraced him fell on his neck kissed him and they wept
09:57: What a scene the sequence of verbs is so elaborate every little motion
10:03: Matters it's all sort of in slow -mo. Nothing's missed and they reconciled.
10:09: That's not what we have We don't have a summary statement. We have every action of this encounter
10:14: Esau running to meet his brother embracing him Falling upon his neck kissing him and only then does
10:22: Jacob enter into this description. They together wept we remember
10:28: Esau Raising his voice in a roar weeping when
10:34: Jacob stole his blessing We read in 27 that he left it. He lifted his voice and wept
10:40: But now Esau weeps again with his brother Jacob and this weeping doesn't just contain the joy of their present
10:47: Reconciliation really it contains the pain of the past 20 years as often moments of reconciliation like this
10:54: Do not just the joy of the present the prospect of moving forward but the memory of what's being left behind and so I say not only with the pain of their past because there's 20 years worth of resentment and guilt and shame and frustration and resentment embedded into this very moment
11:15: And it's all bursting out of the seams as they embrace and they weep and weeping is something you do when words fail
11:23: It's Beyond language and so they don't even know what to say What fitting words are there all they can do is weep and embrace and hold each other close
11:36: Gil points out John Gil points out Esau ran to meet him Ran to meet him
11:44: Most likely he would have been on some sort of animal maybe one of the camels that he received from Jacob But as soon as he actually saw his brother limping toward him and by the time that fourth fifth or sixth bow was taking place
11:55: He was already galloping toward him. He wanted to express express the fact that he had already received him
12:04: He had already been willing to reconcile with him. He wanted to show something of his affection for him
12:11: And all of this is enigmatic of the father running to meet the prodigal you remember in Luke 15 this
12:19: Perhaps most famous of parables the parable of the prodigal son when the younger son had gathered together all journey to the far country wasted everything in a prodigal lifestyle and Then when finally a famine came and he was reduced to to even desiring the pods that the swine were dining upon He came to the end of himself and he said
12:45: I've had enough better to be a servant in the house of my father than to perish here with hunger And so he had his plan.
12:52: I'll go to him and I'll say father I've sinned against heaven before you no longer fit to be called your son rather let me be as one of your slaves make me a hired servant and So he arose and carried out this plan and we read so Powerfully in verse 20 when he was still a great way off.
13:09: His father saw him had compassion He probably looked a lot like Jacob beleaguered Exhausted torn clothing maybe limping his way back toward his father
13:19: And what does the father do like he saw he sees him from afar. He runs
13:24: He falls upon his neck. He kisses him Where's Jesus getting this language?
13:31: It's right out of Genesis 33 It's the same sequence of verbs the running the falling upon the neck the kissing
13:39: And Then the son says father he begins this rehearsed speech and the father cuts him off He's not even listening bring out the best robe kill the fatted calf put my golden ring upon him.
13:49: I thought my son was dead and so Jesus is taking this language from this encounter between Esau and Jacob and Genesis 33 and he's he's as it were
14:00: Pasting it over the encounter between the father and the prodigal son. Why does Jesus do that?
14:06: What is he emphasizing here? Well, I think one of the thing that comes across is Jesus saying listen when it comes to being reconciled with the father when you recognize like Jacob the twister that you've been a far way off and yet and yet you've been
14:20: Compelled to come and be reconciled to the father. You don't need endless trains of gifts
14:25: You don't need to send servants and camels and have a demonstration Wave after a wave of all the reasons that you're actually worthy to be received
14:34: You don't need to have a cunning speech You don't even need to necessarily have this confession of guilt as if that's what's coercing the father to show mercy
14:43: You know really plead your case really balance it out. I've tried really hard Lord, you know I know
14:48: I did wrong but I'm owning up to it and look at the good things I have here if that's waves of gifts if that's coercive speech.
14:54: Jesus is saying the father needs none of that He's already running He's already ready to reconcile
15:04: He's not looking for a speech. He's not looking for camels and flocks he's not looking for the good things that you've done with your life all the things that would make you worthy of receiving this kind of forgiveness of being reconciled with The father does not need these things.
15:18: He's not look for these things This is something that Jesus is showing in the contrast when you come to be reconciled to the father
15:24: You come as you are because you can't do anything else and coming as you are you find this one
15:30: Jesus seems to say that you fear will never received you will never never offer forgiveness to you
15:38: But coming in that humility in that repentant self -acknowledgement
15:46: Jesus is saying you'll find the father running to you in mercy he saw
15:55: His magnanimous in this passage beginning in verse 5, you know You almost get the sense that he's gonna be a really good uncle
16:03: He lifted his eyes Saw the women and the children who are these with you?
16:10: And so Jacob said the children whom God has graciously given your servant and the maidservants came near They and their children and they bowed down like father like sons
16:19: They bowed down they see their father's humility before he saw is this the guy that dad was always talking about?
16:27: I Guess we're supposed to bow now Leah comes near with her children. They bowed down Joseph and Rachel come near they bowed down the whole household of Jacob honors
16:37: Esau They lie down before him Esau doesn't seem to desire this at all.
16:44: He just wants to be introduced and Then there's this gift exchange very significant beginning in verse 8
16:50: Esau said what do you mean by all this company which I met? Not just speaking of what stands before him but everything he's received over the previous day
17:00: And he said these are to find favor in the sight of my Lord pay attention to that phrase
17:05: But Esau said I have enough my brother keep what you have for yourself keep in mind
17:11: Jacob's whole presentation was coming to Esau as to a royal as to one who was truly the heir worthy of this kind of recognition
17:19: But Esau doesn't play into that Esau does not receive Jacob as though he were a dependent a servant a vassal
17:26: He says I have enough brother Doesn't say yes, my servant this pleases me.
17:32: He doesn't play into the way that Jacob is showing this kind of honor It's as if Esau's picking
17:37: Jacob up to stand as an equal alongside him. It's enough brother And so we begin to appreciate the way that not only has
17:45: Jacob changed over these past 20 years but in many ways this wild man intent on murder has changed as well and Let's not attribute that change to well
17:57: I guess you don't really need to be in this in this covenantal dealing with God, you know working under Laban 20 years of trial
18:03: I guess you can go and just you know Kick pants and in Edom and take possession and I guess that'll work just as well.
18:11: No, we cannot say that We have to give credit where credit is due. I love what Arthur pink has to say about this had
18:17: Esau been left to himself This reception with Jacob would have been very different, but he was not left to himself
18:23: Jacob had prayed earnestly to God and this was God answering that prayer
18:29: He in whose hands the king hearts the king's heart turns after his will
18:35: Inclined this fierce and envious man to deal kindly with Jacob. I think that's exactly right
18:42: The same grace that was working in Jacob's life over 20 years patiently
18:48: Untwisting and breaking him down so that he could be blessed and lifted up was also at work as a result of Intercession as a result of Jacob's prayer
18:57: God's hands were in the heart of Esau Turning it after his will all the credit goes to God I don't want
19:08: Esau coming out that profane man as scripture calls him I don't want him coming out looking better than he ought
19:15: All the credit here of his reception goes to God It reminds us doesn't it as Christians that we meet people often who are unbelievers that that have some character of grace in their lives patient wise loving devoted loyal And when we meet people like that, we don't say oh,
19:35: I guess there are these things outside of God's work Outside of a relationship with God.
19:41: No, we rather give credit to God Even though you do not know him, even though your ways are far from him yet He has been so good to you to give you these characteristics these
19:52: Capacities in your life and in your relationships We give all the credit of grace to God and people's lives
19:59: Including Esau and we also recognize that God in his common grace in his kindness toward all has actually blessed
20:07: Esau Esau is a profane man who from the beginning despised the blessings of God Even when he had opportunity to repent and and receive the inheritance at the household of Isaac because Jacob was on the run
20:20: He had no interest in that. He left his father's household. He moved down toward Edom to take possession
20:26: But we recognize that nonetheless Esau has been blessed We see again a demonstration of God's common grace to all that he has made.
20:38: I Love what Spurgeon says about this Esau received a great blessing of a temporal kind an earthly blessing
20:45: Which Isaac did pronounce on him with all the love of a father Esau received what he most wanted.
20:54: He cared very little for the spiritual blessing He was not a spiritual man. And when he obtained the temporal blessing that satisfied his heart
21:02: No wonder he can say it is enough brother He got what he was sought in life. This is all
21:08: I ever wanted I wanted to be at this place with these possessions at this point in my life.
21:13: It's enough brother Don't you know Jake I have never interested in the whole church stuff like you just not my bag
21:22: I've got what I want. I'm a go -getter. It's enough. What what could you offer me that I need?
21:27: I don't need any of this. So first recognize God's blessing upon Esau, but then I say this
21:34: Strikingly, please be warned by the fact that God's blessing upon Esau is inevitably a curse upon Esau We see
21:46: God's grace in the life of Esau such that he will be reconciled to Jacob We see God's grace in the life of Esau in these
21:54: Wonderful ways that he shows humility and even sympathy and pity upon his brother
21:59: We see God's grace in the life of Esau and that he is blessed God gives him a household gives him wives and children gives him possession gives him progeny and a heritage
22:10: We see God's grace in all of that, but Esau was not a spiritual man
22:16: He was profane Esau never sought after the face of God It's what distinguished him from Jacob from the very beginning of their lives
22:23: Jacob was a man after the earth Jacob was a man after God's own heart
22:29: Esau was a man after the earth Esau was a profane man when he obtained what he wanted in this life.
22:35: It was enough That's the worst thing that could be said about someone They got what they wanted in life and it's enough
22:45: God has so designed his relationship with us that we should always have a yearning for him and That this life and all that could be obtained in this life is never enough
22:57: Like Jacob we strive until we receive the blessing and all the things that seem to be a part of that have clearly
23:04: Paled in Jacob's eyes. I won't let you go until you bless me. What's your name?
23:10: And that's when the angel is surprised What what is this? Why are you asking my name?
23:17: He recognized the pearl of great price Esau was too busy expanding the field.
23:23: He wasn't willing to lose it It is a fearful thing. I say this especially to young men and young woman here.
23:30: It is a fearful thing When you pursue things in life and you receive the things in life that you pursue and it's enough for you
23:39: That's a fearful thing Contentment is a virtue in the
23:46: Christians life Godliness with contentment is great gain first Timothy 6 says
23:53: But if you're unspiritual if you're not spiritually minded if you're profane and your life is bound up with the things of the earth contentment is
24:02: God's curse upon you. I Know people in my life not not here who are fatally content
24:15: Fatally content their contentment is their ruin It is good for Jacob to strive after the blessing
24:24: To throw off every weight that so easily entangles and press forward
24:33: Notice as we get back to the gift exchange that Jacob insists and this is really important This is not the kind of gift that can be turned down because it's more than just a gift
24:46: Beginning in verse 10 Jacob said no, please if I've now found favor in your sight receive my present from my hand and as much as I've seen your face as though I've seen the face of God and you were
24:59: Pleased with me So Jacob's now looking sort of back over their past in this encounter the pain of what he had done the guilt that he's now
25:08: Trying to rectify and he's saying no. No, no, this is not saying I know you're being polite and and very gracious and I'm so thankful, but you cannot turn this down.
25:16: You don't understand I need to make restitution I need to make amends and for for Esau to turn this down is to almost say it's not forgiven
25:25: I don't accept your attempt to reconcile and so in this place of Gratitude toward God we've already seen it.
25:33: God has blessed them Blessed me with these children. God has given them to me
25:39: We see this this God -centered gratitude this radical self -awareness in Jacob's life, but then this attempt to find favor
25:46: No, no. No, you have to receive it. I Need to find favor in your sight and then
25:52: To find favor. He says to Esau is like seeing the face of God What is going on here in verse 10
26:03: We remember God had blessed him at Peniel the face of God and that is saying
26:11: Jacob saw God face to face and remember Even leading up to that back in chapter 31 that Jacob has been seeking the face of Esau so 31
26:23: Jacob seeking the face of Esau verse 2 verse 5 This is verse 20 from 31 if I see his face that's
26:30: Esau if I see Esau's face Perhaps he will accept me. Perhaps he'll show me favor.
26:35: That was the only plan Jacob had I'm seeking Esau's face Perhaps he will accept me.
26:41: Perhaps I will find favor in his sight Perhaps I will be reconciled to my long -lost brother Esau I'm seeking his face and as he prepared to do that He gets ambushed by God and he spends the night wrestling with God Until the point that he sees
26:56: God face to face and he receives the blessing of God. He finds favor in God's sight
27:02: He's reconciled to God and now he goes forward with the original plan seeking the face of Esau And he says if I am reconciled to you if I find favor in your sight
27:13: It's like I've seen the face of God in other words. These two events are the same
27:19: Derek Kidner points this out Jacob saw these two encounters as one The encounter with the
27:26: Lord and the encounter with his brother two levels of a single event. It's almost like Jacob is saying
27:32: You've received me like this because because God has received me You're able to show me this kind of favor because God has favored me
27:41: You want to reconcile with me because I've been reconciled to God So to see your face like this upon me is like seeing the face of God and Jacob knows
27:53: I no longer need to twist and wrestle and manipulate. I Just need to limp by faith
28:00: Not by sight It was Jacob's faith Jacob's experience of this mercy
28:09: That allowed him to see it was God at work in Esau's life This is almost Jacob's testimony to Esau and that's why he continues to make
28:17: God the forefront of everything He says look at the next verse. Please take my blessing
28:23: That is brought to you because God has dealt graciously with me because I have enough
28:31: I'm not giving these things to you Esau because you have I'm Giving back the blessing because I I've seen the face of God and he's delivered me.
28:46: I have enough Take my blessing no longer my gift no longer the present
28:53: But the blessing the very word the very thing that Jacob had taken from Esau.
28:59: He says take the blessing back God has dealt graciously with me and So he urged him you have to take this if not for your sake then for mine.
29:12: I need to physically Demonstrate that God has dealt graciously with me and I have a contentment in him.
29:21: I have enough I need to physically demonstrate that my desire now is to be at peace with you
29:28: Because I'm at peace with my God I need to physically demonstrate that this reconciliation between us is something that God has brought not something that I've manipulated
29:41: Gil points out the The language here is stronger. I have enough.
29:46: It's actually emphatic in Hebrew he says the expression is stronger than Esau indeed Jacob shares a much larger share not of temporal blessings, but of Spiritual ones
29:57: God is a covenant God to him Christ his Redeemer the Spirit his sanctifier
30:03: He had every grace bestowed on him and was an heir of glory. Jacob says I have enough
30:13: It's very deliberate that Esau receives the gift and it's very important that Esau offers nothing in return
30:21: That's Esau's way of saying you are the one that had wronged me I accept your restitution for that wrong and Now we can be at peace
30:30: He doesn't say oh since we're giving gifts. Let me give you something in return. That's not what this is about This is about restitution and reconciliation
30:38: So Esau as it were receives the blessing back from Jacob Now, of course that blessing will rest upon Jacob as his father said indeed
30:49: He shall be blessed but we see in Jacob this gracious willingness to lose
30:56: Everything that he had spent so much of his life pursuing because now he found what in fact he always wanted whether he knew it or not
31:04: He found what he had been made for He found who had made him He found the one that had pursued him the one that he would say at the end of his life had been his shepherd his whole life and That leads us thirdly to this patient pace speaking of shepherds
31:21: Esau says in verse 12. Let us take our journey. Let us go I'll go before you and Jacob said to him my lord knows that the children are weak the flocks and the herds which are nursing are with me
31:34: Not to mention my hip really hurts and I haven't slept If the men should drive hard one day the whole flock will die
31:43: Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me and the children are able to endure
31:51: Until I come to my lord and seer This is a lot of detail
31:58: We actually don't need verses 12 through 14 in my opinion unless there's something that we're meant to see in them
32:06: I don't think there's any problem in terms of setting up the next location for chapter 34
32:11: If we go from verse 11, he urged him and he took it right down to verse 15
32:18: And and so Esau says let me leave with you some people who are with me Let me find favor in the sight of my lord
32:24: Esau returned that day on his way to seer Jacob journey to suck off That's really all we need.
32:29: Where do they go after this encounter, but we don't have that We actually have a lengthy description of Jacob saying my children are weak
32:37: My flocks and my herds. They're at a tender age If they're driven the hard they're gonna perish.
32:44: I'm gonna lead them slowly I'm gonna go at such a pace that they'll be able to endure
32:50: Why is all this language here, we don't need this description just to get to seer and suck off I Think it's here
33:00: Because it's echoing the way that God has dealt with Jacob and in these very words
33:06: Jacob is as Israel saying this is how
33:11: Israel needs to be led Israel needs to be led carefully because they're weak and If I drive them hard they're gonna perish
33:22: I'm going to lead but it's gonna be slow and it's gonna be at a pace that Accounts for their weakness and I'm gonna lead in a way it won't always be easy, but they'll be able to endure it
33:33: And all of a sudden now Jacob is resonating with the way that God has dealt with him
33:40: Not driving him hard fix this now this year you're gonna perish But still driving him not leading him ruthlessly so that he's
33:50: Exasperated and and tumbles into a pit for ten years, but still leading him Leading him not always in an easy way not without anxiety or trial or even trouble
34:00: But always in a way that causes him to endure Even when he makes mistakes along the way
34:06: God is leading him slowly, but at a pace That will cause him to prevail
34:14: We'll come back to that as an application can't you can't get on to that now, but I just Am struck by this description and what it means for Jacob's life
34:23: We come lastly and briefly to the fourth and last part of our verses beginning in verse 15
34:29: Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me Esau says but Jacob says what need is there? Let me find favor. This is now the third time that Jacob has said let me find favor
34:37: Do you do you see what I'm all about? Esau I'm all about finding favor in your sight being reconciled to you
34:44: So Esau returned to that day on his way to seer verse 17 And this is a disjunctive clause could easily be translated
34:51: But it's adversative, but Jacob journey to suck off built himself a home made booths for his livestock
34:59: Therefore the name of that place is called suck off which just means booths Now I say sucker at sucker sucker meaning relief or comfort
35:09: I think there's this great relief of what he has just done He's been reconciled to God and to man
35:16: He's he's encountered the Living God his life has been delivered and the thing he's been fearful of for 20 years
35:22: Has finally come to pass. It's just like oh, that's like You know gold medal at the Olympics, and now what do you do with yourself?
35:30: And so I think when he goes to suck off He's in a place of relief He begins to show that he has a desire to settle in the land at least a desire for settled life a
35:41: Lot of commentaries point out God had called him to go to Bethel and he never went to Bethel I don't know that God ever called him to go to Bethel so much as God said
35:50: I am the God who called you at Bethel. I'm you know the God who revealed myself to you at Bethel He said return to the land of your father
35:59: Now arguably he should have gone to the home of his father why he settles here
36:05: It's hard to say and a lot of interpreters want to set this up toward Shechem and the disaster that follows in 34 that this is the beginning of backsliding or compromise in the life of Jacob.
36:16: That may be true I don't read at least up to verse 17 in that way. It's a minority position a
36:23: Lot of commentators, you know good good trustworthy men would disagree I just don't think the narrative is framed in that way
36:29: I don't think it's framed to show the beginning of backsliding and then conclude with him building this altar to the
36:36: God of Israel I don't think this is setting up some fearful distrust of God as he sets up a life in Shechem and now he's still afraid of Esau and he's still afraid to go
36:47: Back home or further into the land that to me seems incontinent with the way the narrative flows.
36:52: I've at least found John Gill Expressing the way that I'm looking at this Whether no doubt he intended to come when he parted with Esau But for reasons which after appeared to him declined it or this is
37:05: Gil more probably he actually did go to seer It's not recorded for us, but he did go
37:11: He kind of kept his family got them situated there at suck off and he went at least for a short time to seer or Quickly after though the scripture makes no mention of it.
37:19: We don't have a record of this He might have gone with his servants directly Sent his family flocks and herds under the care of other servants forward on their journey and then returned to them at suck off And this is what
37:30: Gil says that he should tell a lie here seems unlikely and he seems to have no temptation to do it
37:37: I think Gil is understanding the flow of the narrative rightly the rabbis would line up very well
37:42: It's a lot of more recent preachers and commentaries come in and they go Oh Jacob back to his old self
37:48: Up Jacob losing his trust in God just when you think he's got it together. He blows it
37:53: I think that's a horrible misreading of the way the narrative is flowing here But I won't disagree that once he sets up a life and check him
38:01: The influence of that area has a disastrous effect upon his family as we'll see so Two possibilities with how things and I take it as he's relieved
38:13: He's recovering and he's preparing in further obedience to settle within the land.
38:18: That's what God had asked him to do I don't think we can say more or less than that three applications first consider
38:29: God's gracious countenance and Reconciliation God's gracious countenance and Reconciliation looking at verse 10 if I've now found favor in your sight receive my present from my hand and as much as I've seen your face as Though I'd seen the face of God and you were pleased with me.
38:50: So we see this desire again Upon Jacob to be reconciled to his brother
38:56: What he did not know was that he needed first to be reconciled to God as we said last week and having been
39:02: Reconciled to God he has all urgency and all motivation to be reconciled to his brother and for him
39:09: These two events are one to see the gracious countenance of Esau is like seeing the gracious Countenance of God and he sees in Esau the grace of God So he doesn't at all give credit to Esau but rather gives glory to God For us consider
39:26: God's gracious countenance toward us should have the same effect It should motivate us compel us to be reconciled to those around us
39:36: If someone says I love God I Just love
39:41: God there goes the minivan with the I heart God bumper sticker You know deep beat, you know playing
39:48: Michael W Smith or something on the tape cassette. That's how I grew up, but then
39:54: Hates his brother He's a liar Someone says
40:01: I love God and then it hates his brother. He's a liar He does not love his brother whom he's seen how can he love
40:12: God whom he's not seen We behold the glory of the
40:18: Father in the face in the gracious countenance of Jesus Christ If we claim to have beheld him who's full of grace and truth
40:29: We cannot hate our brother. We can't hate our enemy We can't hate our neighbor the law and the prophets depend upon these things
40:40: At pineal when Israel and Jacob saw God's face and his life was spared He was still having this dread of Esau.
40:48: He had a dread of what Esau's countenance would be But when he saw the gracious countenance of God, he had every motivation he needed to be reconciled to Esau he no longer feared the face of his brother and Christians need no longer fear the face of our neighbor our brother our enemy even if we've been
41:08: Reconciled to God if we have a gracious countenance with him We can seek to be reconciled if it's at all possible with us upon all those that surround us
41:18: Reconciliation is something we've received One of the great themes of the New Testament, isn't it reconciliation?
41:24: Romans 5 When we were still without strength In due time
41:31: Christ died for the ungodly scarcely a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man Someone would even dare to die
41:38: But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us
41:47: Much more than having now been justified by his blood We shall be saved from wrath through him for if when we were enemies
41:55: We were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled
42:00: We shall be saved by his life and not only that but we also rejoice in God through our
42:05: Lord Jesus Christ through whom now we have received this reconciliation We've received the reconciliation
42:13: Paul said and notice how Paul says it we received it when we were without strength
42:18: We received it when we were ungodly. We received it while we were yet enemies We were reconciled which means for the
42:25: Christian week. We approach reconciliation with those who are without strength ungodly and still enemies
42:34: That's how we seek to reconcile as those who have been reconciled. We have received it.
42:40: Therefore we participate in God's work of Reconciliation and this takes us from the reception
42:45: Romans 5 to the participation 2nd Corinthians 5
42:51: If anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation old things have passed away behold all things have become new Now all things are of God who's reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and he's given us the ministry of reconciliation
43:07: Clearly in the context Paul is talking about himself in his capacity as an Apostle and he's speaking of Apostle ship
43:13: This is a ministry in a unique way entrusted to the Apostles But by extension every
43:20: Christian has received the ministry of reconciliation Because God was in Christ Reconciling the world to himself not imputing trespasses to them.
43:31: He's committed to us the word of reconciliation And so we're ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us.
43:39: We implore you be reconciled to God so you go from receiving reconciliation as a
43:46: Christian to Participating as an ambassador in God's work of reconciliation you implore
43:52: People to be reconciled to God you employ yourself to be reconciled to people now here
43:59: We need to make a distinction a very important distinction between forgiveness reconciliation and restoration
44:07: When we have relational sins these three categories are at play forgiveness
44:16: Reconciliation and restoration Now, I think
44:21: I can say biblically God requires of all of his people forgiveness It is singularly un -christian to harbor and nurture
44:33: Unforgiveness in your heart God required doesn't make it easy and it doesn't mean it's instant
44:41: It just means this is the bare minimum of God's work of reconciliation forgiveness
44:47: Forgiveness is something that can be extended whether or not someone is present forgiveness is something that can be truly accomplished
44:55: Even if someone's no longer living Forgiveness is something that God requires of his people
45:04: Reconciliation builds upon forgiveness without forgiveness. There can be no true reconciliation, but reconciliation may not always happen
45:13: It would have been possible for Esau to have forgiven Jacob or for Jacob to have forgiven
45:19: Laban and that may have been possible and true in God's sight without there ever having been a
45:25: Reconciliation like we see between Jacob and Esau as Christians. We forgive that's what's required of us.
45:32: We aim we hope to reconcile now a third restoration as a
45:40: Channel, I love watching he posts every few months and it's just a guy who finds some old antique and he meticulously
45:47: Restores it and I wouldn't even say just to its original condition But better if there's any part that's loose or wobbling
45:53: He actually machines new bolts new washers new everything until it's perfect. It's literally restored perfectly and I think that is the image of restoration that we always hope for But we often can forgive and even be reconciled and Yet the nature of what has been forgiven and even the difficulty of reconciliation means that it won't ever really be restored
46:22: It'll be different. I mean, I think Jacob and Esau have gone through forgiveness reconciliation restoration
46:30: I Don't even know if that's possible Have they really been restored to what they were meant to be as brothers?
46:38: It doesn't seem that way They don't live the rest of their lives that way As Christians we want to pursue forgiveness
46:47: Reconciliation and even restoration what can be and ought to be restored We pray and we labor to bring that about but we recognize that restoration
46:55: After some wrong that needs to be forgiven may not be possible It may not look the same and so we have to be open be willing to pursue restoration
47:05: But also be realistic about the fact that things will be different. That's what sin does It makes everything different in horrible ways
47:12: But nevertheless we ought to pursue reconciliation so far as it depends upon us and then at the bare minimum
47:19: We must forgive now I think the issue for most Christians is that it's easy to say
47:24: I forgive and let up on reconciliation It's easy to say yeah in my heart
47:29: I've forgiven and maybe even because it's a little too easy to say we don't even recognize that Deeper underneath that layer in our hearts.
47:37: We actually have not forgiven There's actually resentments that like a tar pit under the
47:43: Pacific Ocean lets out a little bit and it bubbles toward the surface So reconciliations already off the table.
47:50: It's already outside of our interest or desire because it well, it's already forgiven Have you reckless?
47:56: Oh, no. No, I forgive them. It's all good That's sub Christian So I asked the question
48:05: How far are we willing to go? Do we just say
48:13: I know I'm supposed to forgive and I think I've forgiven and it's all good and that's all we ever aimed and intended for Or do we prayerfully in time actually aim for restoration and Until God in his providence and in time makes it clear that restoration is not possible.
48:30: We just are fighting for reconciliation Robert Smith jr.
48:38: Is a pastor whose Whose son was killed He was working a late shift at a restaurant and there was an attempted robbery and his son was shot
48:48: He said a phone came just before midnight Explanation that our son had been shot was in the hospital
48:56: They were trying to resuscitate him and he wasn't doing well And so he got on his knees this minister and he prayed and he prayed that God would spare his son's life
49:06: And that he would be spared in such a way that he would be able to serve God for the rest of his life and then an hour later, they got another phone call that he had died and they found the murderer of his son and He sat there during the trial and he
49:28: Robert Smith jr. Says during the trial. I saw the back of my son's murderers head
49:34: He was only 18 years old I Was sitting across from his family his mother other family members who were weeping when the judge sentenced him to a long time in prison
49:44: And from that point forward I prayed about my feelings toward him For 44 years to this point
49:51: I had preached about forgiveness But it came crashing down on me in this moment that I really believe what
49:57: I had always preached He wrote forgiveness takes the sting out of memory.
50:05: I confess that the ache of memory is still there But the paralysis of the sting has been swallowed up by God's love.
50:13: That's very insightful Forgiveness and reconciliation does not erase the memory
50:21: Forgiveness and reconciliation that comes after the gracious countenance of God Takes the sting out of the memory takes the paralysis out of the memory
50:35: Allows you to actually understand God's love and God's purpose in time Now this is interesting to me.
50:42: He mailed a letter To his son's murderer in prison, but look at the time frame two years later.
50:50: He mailed a letter To you he's a preacher. He's been preaching forgiveness for 44 years.
50:56: He stares at the murderer of his son and For two years he wrestles in prayer and asks other people to pray with him before he can get to a place to send a letter
51:08: I think I don't think that's un -christian at all I Think for two years. He was fighting tooth and nail
51:15: Between this desire not to do that feeling everything he felt toward this man who killed his son
51:21: But then also knowing what he had received From the grace of the Lord and and it took two years for that Wrestling to go before he actually could see the gracious countenance of God compelling him to be reconciled
51:35: And then it was another two years before this young man allowed him to be on the visitors list
51:41: You can imagine like Jacob the shame and the guilt this young man the last thing on earth I'm gonna do is sit across from the father of the victim
51:52: And so there's a four -year process of this struggle And he finally this would have been a few years ago made it on the visitors list and visited him the story that I had read doesn't include anything after that, but I was actually told by a
52:09: Professor who knew him the young man has been converted still in prison and Robert Smith is a spiritual father
52:19: Spiritual father to the son who killed his blood son That's reconciliation, that's restoration, that's
52:31: Christianity and All of this is from God Who through Christ reconciled to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation and Robert Smith it wasn't instant and it wasn't easy and for four years
52:50: He had to wrestle with the fact that he had been given a ministry of reconciliation
52:57: But he looked at the gracious countenance of God and he understood what he had received from God And he got to the place not just in his own home
53:05: Miles away from this murderer. Could he say yeah in my heart. I think I've forgiven him. That wasn't enough
53:10: He has a ministry. He needs to be reconciled. And so he sought it And so I'm asking the question how far are we willing to go?
53:20: Do we recognize the ministry that we've been given? We're Christians Forgiveness may only ever be what we can attain
53:31: But we ought to always have the heart attitude that forgiveness is never enough We have a ministry of reconciliation
53:40: Secondly, that was a really long first point secondly God's gracious dealing and contentment
53:48: God's gracious dealing in contentment looking at verse 11 please take my blessing that is brought to you because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have enough
54:01: We see Jacob has been humbled not only by the the touch of the Lord on the banks of Jabbok But but he's also been humbled by the recognition of all that's been given to him and even the fact that God was delivering him
54:14: Not only in that direct divine encounter, but also now from the brother his brother's hand gratitude leads to humility
54:23: Something I've been thinking about this week. I think I mentioned it on Thursday night If your only source of humility in the
54:30: Christian life is the woe to use Then you're missing out on I think a very powerful motive for humility
54:37: That as much as our conviction and our repentance is a source of humility in the
54:43: Christians life So also is our thanksgiving and our gratitude when we recognize what God has given us
54:48: This becomes a source of humility. God has dealt graciously with me.
54:53: I have enough Therefore take please don't give it back. I'm leaving it here whether you take it or not
55:00: It's not coming back with me When we recognize that we are not nor can we ever be self -sufficient.
55:08: We ought not to be self -reliant we become grateful because we no longer live our lives as those who have to take and obtain and grasp and twist we live our lives as recipients and When you live your life as a recipient you can live your life in gratitude you're humbled by gratitude, you know
55:27: It's a humbling thing to be a recipient, isn't it? No wonder Jesus could say one of the few direct quotations of Jesus from Paul in Acts 20 as our
55:35: Lord said it is more blessed to give than to receive So the first thing is we ought to be givers look at Jacob's life.
55:43: He's a giver Why is it so easy for him to give why does he so desire to give
55:52: Because at heart he's a receiver he's a recipient and The more you recognize how blessed you are to receive
56:01: The more blessed you are as a giver And it's a humbling thing to receive when someone gives you a gift out of the blue.
56:10: You're like, you know What do you do with that? It's just humbling. There's nothing you didn't earn it. It's a gift. That's what makes a gift a gift
56:18: Remember in Luke 18 when the Pharisee stood and said God, I thank you. Is that true gratitude?
56:23: He's thanking God, you know Good job Pharisee Thankfulness in your prayers you're thanking
56:29: God. Look at this brothers and sisters an example of gratitude God I thank you that I'm not like the other men
56:36: Extortioners unjust this is good Pauline vice list material extortioners unjust adulterers even like this tax collector.
56:47: I Possess and and then what does Jesus introduce is the contrast of that Luke 18 13 the tax collector standing far off He probably felt a little too unworthy to be near this.
56:59: Holy man. I wish I could say that about myself, but I can't he's far -off And as far as the
57:05: Pharisees concerned, he really is far off. I'm so glad I'm not like you You're so far from what I've attained You're so far away from the uprightness.
57:13: I have in my life. You really are far off. I'm so glad I'm not like you He wouldn't even raise his eyes to heaven that's humility
57:23: But he beat his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner Now there's one way of reading this text
57:31: I was really helped by Mark Mark McMahon a book He wrote and I had a chapter on gratitude and he highlighted this and it's just something
57:40: I'd never considered before I think it's right there in the text. There's one way of reading this solely as Conviction of sin and repentance
57:48: God be merciful to me a sinner so he can't raise his eyes to heaven He's feeling all the weight of conviction and he's been humbled by his conviction and that's it
57:57: But as we've said that's not the only source or motivation of humility Another way, you don't raise your eyes to heaven and you say
58:05: God be merciful to me is out of gratitude and I think there's something of gratitude in this sinner's prayer and If if we can follow the text, it's first of all the recognition that he he is unworthy
58:21: There's a sameness and I would even argue he probably knows something About God's grace
58:28: God's mercy and sinfulness to recognize that in a lot of ways He's no different from this
58:34: Pharisee. They both actually need God's mercy What humility does when you recognize that you're a recipient is it strips away this ability to say
58:44: I Hate all these things that you hate Lord and look at all these good things in my life It strips all that away. What you see is this radical sameness this radical sameness and You anticipate that God is willing to forgive
58:57: God be merciful to me I'm no different than this Pharisee. I'm no different than anyone
59:03: Lord. Show me mercy It's that radical sameness that Robert Smith jr.
59:12: Saw with his son's murderer At the end of the day, I'm really no different Be merciful to me
59:22: I'm a sinner And so when the Pharisee said
59:28: I thank you. I'm not like other men The Humility of conviction and the humility of gratitude says
59:37: I thank you that I'm just like every other man And yet you show me mercy
59:44: I'm just like the rest. I am Romans 3 and Yet I'm on my knees and I'm saying forgive me and I know that you're running toward me in compassion
59:57: The sinner prays with not just the humility of conviction But the humility of gratitude because it recognizes and anticipates that God will forgive you when you pray that God will forgive you
01:00:09: Are you not anticipating his forgiveness? Do you think it's an open question whether or not he will it's the worst thing in our lives is that we expect it all
01:00:18: Too flippantly, don't we? I'm sorry for this But though that's a casualty of our own fallen flesh scripture never takes that bold confidence away
01:00:28: If you confess you are forgiven. That's what the scriptures declare to the Christian And so there's this boldness, but also it's it's it's a humble confidence and it's the humility of Anticipating God will still be merciful to me still
01:00:45: Though I'm just like the rest Gratitude doesn't just lead to Humility it also leads to contentment
01:00:55: That's why I say God's gracious dealing in contentment. Remember Jacob. God has dealt gracious with me and I have enough
01:01:03: It's that recognition and that gratitude for the way God has dealt with you that brings you to this place of contentment
01:01:09: I have everything I need in him and I trust him for what what I will need yet you think of Zacchaeus in Luke 19 and how he hid from Jesus and How when the
01:01:21: Lord finally made himself a guest at Zacchaeus his house I'm dining with you tonight.
01:01:26: You despised tax collector right off the heels of Luke 18 Like Jacob Zacchaeus Was moved by God's gracious dealing with him.
01:01:37: The Lord had dealt so graciously with him He didn't ridicule him like the others. He didn't mock and expose him.
01:01:42: He didn't say, you know, let's incite some mob violence against this crook He dealt graciously with him he honored him and And in that moment just like Jacob Zacchaeus could almost say
01:01:54: I have enough If I have this I have enough look Lord. I give back everything that I've taken
01:02:03: I'll give back fourfold if I've defrauded, you know, bring to me your your complaints.
01:02:08: I'm gonna restore fourfold to you That's radical contentment I have enough and it came from this gracious dealing of the
01:02:16: Lord in the life of Zacchaeus Listen to what Spurgeon says? We're never right until God's will becomes our will and we can honestly say the will of the
01:02:26: Lord be done. Ooh Ooh easy to say hard to live by Easy to say but hard to live by therefore it's a sad thing when a
01:02:38: Christian man cannot say I have enough All right, we said it's a curse when an unbeliever says
01:02:43: I have enough Really? It's it's a curse when a Christian can't say that It's a very sweet thing when he can truthfully say
01:02:53: I have enough and he really does actually enjoy life Listen to this when he thanks
01:02:59: God for what he is and what he is not There's a lot of a lot of talk and kind of theological literature lately about post human
01:03:12: Civilization, you know transhumanism This is not necessarily talking about gender or sexuality, but just actually what it what it means to be human with the prospects of technology
01:03:22: Christians ought to approach life as recipients and In that place of gratitude recognizing even your body as a gift
01:03:31: This is a huge part of this. I think testimony were meant to have as Christians in our culture Recognizing body embodiment as a gift
01:03:40: And when we think about that we take with that the limitations of the body. I Don't think
01:03:46: Spurgeon would have meant this in the 19th century But I I think it's profound we ought to be thankful for what we are and what we are not
01:03:53: We have to be thankful not only for our creaturely capacities, but our creaturely inabilities
01:04:00: When you recognize your limitations you will be framing your life in a place of gratitude You're recognizing all of the myriad of ways that you're a recipient
01:04:12: When he thanks God for what he is and for what he's not when he thanks God for health But also for sickness when he thanks
01:04:17: God for gains, but also for losses When he sings a song in the night like a nightingale, but also a song of the day like a lark
01:04:26: When he does these things he proves that he does not follow God for what he gets out of God Like a stray dog following a man in the street who feeds him
01:04:36: He follows God out of a sincere love for him. I think that describes
01:04:42: Jacob's life perfectly Moving from someone who followed
01:04:48: God I'll let you be my God if you'll do this this and this for me like a stray dog just because he's being fed
01:04:55: So at this encounter at Penuel saying I have enough I Follow you now because I love you.
01:05:03: I Thank you for the way that you've graciously dealt with me This is the beginning of Colossians 3 15 letting the peace of God rule in your hearts
01:05:15: To which you were called in one body and be thankful Be thankful we're born as recipients
01:05:25: Gratitude receiving this life and all of its limitations for what it is
01:05:31: But at the same time we do so as Christians. There's lots of people out there who receive this life as it is
01:05:38: We're Christians so we not only receive this life as recipients filled with thankfulness as it is
01:05:44: But we also see what it will be in hope and that's what makes us Christian Just like a
01:05:50: Christian mourns not as those who mourn without hope but as those with hope we receive life and we demonstrate gratitude for all that is with hope
01:06:00: This is a really important point some people in this world. They have an upbeat optimistic Personality that is not the same thing as Christian gratitude
01:06:09: Christian gratitude is not just let's appreciate the good things in life and not focus on the bad
01:06:15: Let's just take life as it comes take it as it is and always look for that silver lining Let's always find something to be thankful about that can be as I like secular a philosophy as any that's not
01:06:25: Christian gratitude some people have a sentimental view of Gratitude of receiving life as a gift
01:06:36: Christian gratitude is not sentimentalism. It's not just well, I love Hikes and you know,
01:06:42: I love to notice the changing of the leaves in the autumn and I'm just thankful. Okay, that's good. That's Christian But you don't just take this life as it is.
01:06:51: You also take this life for what it's not and therefore what it will be There's some people who say on the other side they're far from sentimental
01:06:59: They're not upbeat or optimistic and they're not trying to foster a worldly thankfulness. They're actually cynical.
01:07:05: Oh, yeah I see this life as it is. I see right through it all. Everyone's a dog.
01:07:10: It's a dog -eat -dog world. I Don't trust anybody. I trust people as far as I can throw them.
01:07:15: You know, I'm not naive. I see life as it is You see it's not a cynical realism nor is it a naive optimism
01:07:28: Christian gratitude is actually saying I'm a recipient of this life and this good world that God has caused so much
01:07:36: Fruitfulness and beauty and abundance and all of these good things and no matter how deprived
01:07:41: I am I'm thankful because I've been given this gift of of life in this world and the knowledge of my maker and his plan of Redemption and what prevents me from being cynical is
01:07:53: I have this attitude of humility. I'm a recipient. I'm not owed anything I'm given everything what prevents me from sentimentalism is saying as beautiful as this world is it's broken and There's great horror and tragedy and despair there's evil in this world and Therefore when
01:08:16: I'm grateful for what is I also have a hope for what God has promised Those two poles form
01:08:24: Christian gratitude Not cynicism not sentimentality but Christian gratitude thankfulness with hope
01:08:34: Lastly last point briefly God's gracious leading and endurance and This is just highlighting verse 14
01:08:43: I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me and the children are able to endure
01:08:51: Jacob was weakened by his encounter with God and in this place of weakness Jacob looks to his weak children the boys that you know were rushed across the brook in the middle of the night and they're hungry and they're
01:09:02: Tied and their lives have been upturned and he cares for them And so he says
01:09:10: I'm gonna lead them slowly. I'm gonna lead them in a way that they can actually endure Jacob's weakness gave him this profound sympathy for the weak among him for the
01:09:21: The impact that his leading would have upon them that is so Christological We Think of our
01:09:28: Savior who Who left that realm of blessing and humbled himself to the point of a slave talk about lying prostrate and In this place of weakness in this life.
01:09:42: He lived among us. He now sympathizes with our weakness and because he himself has experienced temptation and distress trial and Difficulty at every level levels beyond what we could even imagine
01:09:54: He now leads us at a slow pace in such a way that we will be able to endure
01:10:01: He's a shepherd Just like Jacob was a shepherd Just like Moses was a shepherd and David was a shepherd.
01:10:10: This is how God leads his people Like a shepherd he will tend his flock
01:10:15: Isaiah says in chapter 40 in his arms He will gather the lambs carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead the nursing youth.
01:10:23: He's talking about his people Gently leading them Bearing them up carrying them in his bosom moving at such a pace that he's sensitive to their weakness
01:10:32: But still leading them because you can't just let people atrophy and be weak and just waste away I know it's hard, but you need to keep going
01:10:39: But he always has an eye on what we're able to endure so he won't introduce a temptation that will overthrow us
01:10:44: And when we are tempted he provides a way of escape This is part of his faithful shepherding in our lives
01:10:50: Do you recognize God's gentle pace the way he has graciously dealt with you?
01:11:00: Do you see his gracious countenance the favor that has accepted you that from that place?
01:11:06: You can say I have enough and and participate in this ministry of reconciliation with those around you
01:11:12: Have you like? Robert Smith jr. Fought hard to not settle at forgiveness, but pursue this ministry of reconciliation as painful as it could be
01:11:24: Have you recognized? God's dealing with you. It's been gracious And he's been dealing with you in a way that you will be able to endure that that you can have contentment
01:11:36: Have you recognized that he's leading you so that you will prevail like Jacob And we close with these words from psalm 18 verse 35 you've given me the shield of your salvation your right hand supported me
01:11:48: Jacob could say that Your gentleness has made me great Let's pray
01:11:58: Father we thank you for your word. We thank you for Your precious promises we thank you for your gentle leading your gracious favor
01:12:07: We thank you for the ministry of reconciliation Through which we've been saved reconciled and brought near through the blood of our
01:12:14: Savior I Pray that we would strive with him wrestle with him Lord in those
01:12:20: Relationships that are difficult that we wouldn't settle For something less than what Christ would bring about And pray that we would be like him in every respect
01:12:31: That you would encourage our hearts Lord and help us to persevere help us to look on each other with the same sympathy
01:12:38: Pity and gentleness and charity that Jacob looked upon the weak These things we ask in your son's name
01:12:58: Now is our time for interaction Well hey, thank you, thank you very much you know
01:13:24: I thought it was interesting when you gave us the forgiveness reconciliation and restoration and Never really thought about restoration a whole lot, but you're right
01:13:33: We kind of missed that and then you focused a lot on on Forgiveness, and it's it kind of strikes me as odd in fact.
01:13:42: I was talking to my wife It was either today or yesterday about it um You know if you look at the problems that plague families and that plague churches
01:13:51: It's a lack of forgiveness. You know we don't show each other grace or mercy We have higher expectations
01:13:58: And you know I try to pray on that a lot and try to focus on it because I mean I got a family Of 11 people living at home.
01:14:03: Yeah, and I've had some problems in the past where believe it I was only forgiving, but it is it is so I mean
01:14:13: Churches relational I mean obviously we have a relation with the Lord But we have a relation with each other, and I just think unfortunately in today's times.
01:14:20: I don't know why I can speculate, but we just have a really hard time forgiving
01:14:26: And That can destroy a family as it did with this family that we're speaking about today in Genesis it can destroy our families, and it can destroy a church and I just think that You know thank you for bringing that up because I wouldn't have
01:14:41: I didn't really focus on that when I was reading it But the part of forgiveness, I think that's a strong message
01:14:47: We need to take it so important and then to bring back. You know restoration and that that picture that you
01:14:54: Said with the pastor. I mean obviously that was very pointed to and I appreciate you for bringing that up because sometimes those word pictures, you know they just they add so much more in words and You know
01:15:05: I have a hard time forgiving sometimes over something stupid right and and that person forgave over something that was
01:15:11: You know Substantial yeah, so but thank you for that amen. Yeah, amen.
01:15:17: Thank you for the emphasis there. I think you're right Being in a busy household. It is a ministry of reconciliation
01:15:36: I Think you Ross was a very rich sermon. There's a lot there. I kind of wanted to emphasize one of the points you made
01:15:44: Where in my own words essentially it sounded like you were saying that in this?
01:15:51: Situation with Esau it's as if Jacob gives back the blessing The covenantal blessing to him obviously recognizing that it's it's his
01:16:02: By by God's will but it's it's something that he wasn't holding on to yes, and It reminded me of Philippians chapter 2.
01:16:11: Yes in particular the ESV translation of it, which I think does it The most justice we were he
01:16:18: Christ did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped Yeah, something to be held on to and this is really a remarkable
01:16:27: Development of sanctification in Jacob because it's exactly that Which I think was his problem in Which led to his exile in Syria?
01:16:39: Because he was trying to hold on in his own strength to that which God had given him. He Almost certainly knew that it had been
01:16:48: Told to Rebecca that he was the one who had received the promise, but somehow he thinks he has to Do whatever it takes to hold on to that promise when
01:17:00: And then here later we see he's he's willing to he's not holding on to it and he recognizes that It's in God's hands.
01:17:09: Yeah, it's it's just along the same lines of the you know What Christ was saying and in Matthew all three got
01:17:16: Gospels really the synoptics were he? Who seeks to save his life will lose it and he loses it for my sake.
01:17:25: We'll find it. Yeah He you know Humbles himself will be exalted this principle through the scriptures that we it's not by grasping and holding on to something
01:17:35: Even if it is a good thing that we actually gain it But by trusting in God and being willing to let it go in a sense
01:17:43: Not in the sense that he wasn't willing to wrestle for it But in a sense in the sense that we think we have to pragmatically keep
01:17:51: Yeah through shady means what God has promised is if we're somehow helping God with our sin
01:17:56: Yeah, and we're missing the point altogether It's not that we we devalue it like Esau did that that would be the wrong lesson to take from.
01:18:05: Oh, you know, I just It either way it's fine with me. No, it's it's not that Jacob didn't value this.
01:18:12: He wrestled all night for it But he wasn't willing to just hold on to it in a selfish way that and it would be detrimental to his brother
01:18:21: Amen. Yeah, and what? What profound simplicity when when Esau says, you know, what what is all this that you've met me with my brother
01:18:30: Jacob doesn't say I worked my tail off for 20 years. You wouldn't you know, you know our uncle.
01:18:35: Let me tell you Yeah, sit down. This is gonna take off. He doesn't He just says God has dealt graciously with me.
01:18:41: That doesn't mean he wasn't sweating frustrated Pressed, you know at a breaking point for 20 years.
01:18:48: It's just he can look back and say God has dealt graciously with me You know that that again is just the triumph of what
01:18:57: God has been doing in his life to hear it confessed from his lips To the man that he was so afraid of Thank You Ross, that was a real blessing this
01:19:16: I feel like there's really nothing to add to that When we were reading it, we're doing the public reading of the word.
01:19:24: I you know I think I was at my home. I would have done this, but I really wanted to read Jacobs.
01:19:29: I have enough louder As because certainly that you know
01:19:35: Esau's I have enough Yeah, really resounded in my heart last night and then as I read it this morning
01:19:42: I couldn't help I missed I Missed Jacobs.
01:19:48: I have enough and the words before that he's graciously dealt with me. Yeah, I have enough
01:19:53: Yeah, right and and those are great words. Um, I think the theme continues
01:20:00: It continues for Israel as they become a nation and it continues for the true, you know, true
01:20:05: Israel for True Israel and part of the remnant I'll read just a section in Deuteronomy Here that I think it's follows that same theme and we should remember and again we need to remember the alt before God's eyes the ultimate difference before Between Jacob and Esau right if if any worldly man looks at them both if any
01:20:31: Politician right if anyone in this world looks at them both who doesn't know the Lord they say like these both men have gained a lot
01:20:36: They're both very very successful. Look at their wealth. Look at their wealth, right?
01:20:43: But only the Christian Should know the difference and it should be a grave was you said it should be a grave warning in our hearts
01:20:50: You need to ask yourself. You really do. I'm amazed often when
01:20:55: I read stories about missionaries from a young age and They have enough they have enough to give up Wealthwise what they never ever ever worked for it like they didn't learn it like Esau learned it
01:21:11: They learned it it was a spiritual discernment and God gave it to him as a gift graciously and they could say it
01:21:18: They could say before they ever gained anything in their own strength. They have enough I'm going to serve the
01:21:23: Lord my whole life and I may not receive anything I may be poor my whole life wealth wise
01:21:30: But I'll be rich in him and I can do this and I can be content in it those stories always amazed me because You know,
01:21:39: I don't know they always amazed me I think we could say the starting point for that really is this do you approach your whole life as a recipient?
01:21:49: Because that's the big difference Absolutely, Jake Jacob went from being a striver to being a recipient and that makes the difference between you know gratitude and willingness to kind of lose all in the pursuit of God to You know trying to pretend that you can somehow straddle both
01:22:04: It says here and this is for Israel in this section in Deuteronomy 8 it says, um
01:22:12: You know Moses gives in the warning beware that you do not forget the Lord your God By not keeping his commandments his judgments and his statutes as I command you this day lest when you have eaten in our full and have built beautiful houses and dwelt in them and when your herds and your flocks
01:22:29: Multiply your silver and your gold are multiplied and all that you have is multiplied
01:22:34: When your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt From the house of bondage and he goes on to give this list of what he did
01:22:44: Who led you through the great and terrible wilderness in which there were fiery fire be fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty?
01:22:53: Land where there was no water who brought water for you out of the flinty rock who fed you
01:22:59: In the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know that he might write he goes on and gives this list that God did all this
01:23:07: God did all this and Israel knew that he said don't forget You know and then he says this and you shall remember the
01:23:14: Lord your God for it is he who gives you power to get wealth Remember the
01:23:21: Lord your God because it's he who gives you power to get wealth like Right that he might do what that he might establish his covenant, which he swore to your fathers, right?
01:23:31: The purpose of that is that he would establish his covenant that he swore to fathers
01:23:37: The person that says I have enough and that's a Christian It is it desires more this covenant that he's established than anything
01:23:46: He's ever gained with his hands and he can say I have enough and be with God Esau never eat saw as you said as we've read
01:23:54: Esau never Decide desired that covenant with God. He never did and He never did and I think one of the reasons why like you said one of the reasons why he could go
01:24:05: I understand It's God's grace in his life But one of the reasons he could go back to Jacob and not kill him is
01:24:11: As you said and as we all know if you read it rightly he got what he wanted He got what he wanted if he does he got what he wanted
01:24:20: Yeah, right. It was given to him and Jacob and him were the same when they start up They were exactly the same like any man or woman who's who's born
01:24:30: They were the same and the difference was that God dealt graciously With Jacob and Jacob desired it he desired because I think
01:24:39: God dealt graciously with Esau as well Self -ethically, but he he dealt with him graciously, but he saw wanted nothing to do with it, right?
01:24:47: So let us not forget as you work Right as you gain wealth if you use your skills in this world, whatever you do
01:24:54: Do not forget the re it's in God's power that he's given you the ability to do that And it's not for the purpose of caning that wealth is for the purpose of understanding
01:25:05: The covenant that he's made with you if you're his and that you would hold on to that covenant
01:25:10: Tighter than you would hold on to anything else. Let us not forget it remind each other I easily forget this as I'm working all day long.
01:25:18: I easily forget it We need to in this church. We need to come together and remind each other of that Amen.